Help on 408 build

What would be the proper way of doing this in the future?

Imo, the “right” way to do it is...... do your homework first.
For this application, a set of closed chamber heads, inverted dome pistons selected to provide 10-10.5cr with zero deck height along with the heads of your choosing, and a big enough cam to keep the cranking compression well within the safe zone.

I think B3’s solution is a cheap way out for the time being.
I’d probably go up a bit with the cam as well, while I had it all apart.